A facile microwave-assisted combustion synthesis of NiCoFe2O4 anchored polymer nanocomposites as an efficient electrode material for asymmetric supercapacitor application

Abstract

Renewable energy storage is very important and needs of the day for all handy electronic devices. Hybrid polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) have attracted great attention recently, for these applications. In the present work, nanostructure nickel-cobalt ferrite (NiCoFe2O4) dispersed Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/ Poly(vinyl) pyrrolidone (PVP) nanocomposites have been prepared by a simple solution casting method. Structural studies of prepared polymer nanocomposites have been established by X-ray diffraction analysis. The presence of functional and vibrational groups of polymer nanocomposites have been identified using FTIR spectroscopy. The surface characteristics of prepared PNCs have been obtained as a non-uniform rod-like structure with porous morphology in field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). Temperature dependent dielectric and electronic spectral studies have been investigated. The electrochemical characteristics such as cyclic voltammetry (CV), Galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) and electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) have been analyzed. This study resulted in maximum specific capacitance as 13.49 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1 for 1 wt.% of NiCoFe2O4 (NCF) nanoparticles in polymer blended electrode and 99.39% of columbic efficiency. The supercapacitor with NCF loaded PVA/PVP as electrode is introducing an excellent prospective for practical supercapacitors owing to high surface area, good energy density and power density.